THE MAMMALS OF NEW JERSEY. 6i 



This cottontail occurs all over the northern part of the State 

 and overlaps the range of the other species. 



Lepus Uoridanus transitionalis Rhoads, Mam. Pa. and N. J., 

 1903, p. 121. 



Lepus europaeus Pallas. 

 Belgian Hare. 



Length 21 inches. General color grizzly gray, individual hairs 

 gray with black tips, under-fur which shows through more or less, 

 yellowish, face reddish fawn, throat buff, belly white, tail black 

 above, white below. 



This large hare has been extensively raised on private grounds 

 and preserves and has escaped to some extent, so that in several 

 parts of the State it is not uncommon to see apparently wild 

 individuals. It is a native of Europe, and can be at once distin- 

 guished from the common cottontails by its larger size. 



Lepus europceus Rhoads, Mam. Pa. & N. J., 1903, p. 220. 



Lepus americanus virginianus (Harlan). 

 Varying Hare. White Rabbit. 



Plate 17. 



Length 19 inches. In summer, upper parts russet to dull fer- 

 ruginous; lower parts white. In winter, entirely white, though 

 some individuals remain partly brown throughout the winter in 

 the southern part of its range. 



This is the native hare of the northern evergreen forests, the 

 cottontail being distinctly the animal of the deciduous woods to 

 the south. Where the axeman shows the way the cottontail fol- 

 lows, and as the hemlocks and spruces are cleared away the vary- 

 ing hare retreats into a constantly narrowing range as the other 

 advances. 



In Pennsylvania it remains here and there where patches of 

 the boreal forest still stand. In New Jersey, however, it is well 

 nigh exterminated, though a few may still remain in the higher 

 swamps of the Kittatiny range in Sussex and Warren counties. 



